He urged him to reconsider the State Government's jobs plan, which needs millions in Commonwealth support to help restructure the industry.

Caroline Winter reports.

CAROLINE WINTER: Precision Components in Adelaide is one of many car part suppliers across Australia now considering its future.

Darrin Spinks runs the company which makes specialised pressed metal, auto components and assembly solutions for Holden, Ford and Toyota.

DARRIN SPINKS: It is a kick in the guts. Yesterday when I heard the news I'm thinking what do I tell my employees? And really what I'm going to tell them is it is the end of manufacturing as we know it. Just in time, high volume supply, and in three years it just won't be here.

CAROLINE WINTER: Twelve months ago, he put together a team of people to look at diversifying the business.

That's started to bear fruit, with production branching out into the mining, construction and transport industries.

But Darrin Spinks says not every company will be as willing.

DARRIN SPINKS: There'll be a lot of companies that will say, "I don't have the confidence," or "There's no guarantees in spending that extra money and resources against diversification, so therefore I'm going to start the wind down process right now."

CAROLINE WINTER: It's likely dozens of direct and associated suppliers won't survive the closure of the local car making industry, and that's going to leave hundreds, potentially thousands out of work.

Professor Andrew Beer is from Adelaide University.

He studied hundreds of sacked workers after Mitsubishi's closure and found only a third went into full time employment.

Professor Beer says the best bet this time around will be for those in electronics.

ANDREW BEER: Roughly half their value of a car produced today is electronics. Now they do have some opportunity to move into other fields including lighting, computers, other technologies, but I guess people making the metal work will have fewer opportunities to find new opportunities. So it could well be grim times indeed.

CAROLINE WINTER: With news Toyota is going and car manufacturing will be dead in Australia by 2017, the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has stepped up his call for urgent government action.

JAY WEATHERILL: Companies are making marginal decisions about whether they've run down their businesses and actually close up shop or whether they invest for the future, and the decisions about that will largely depend on whether they're abandoned by governments or where governments step up and take the lead.

CAROLINE WINTER: Mr Weatherill is demanding the Federal Government support his $330 million car industry rescue plan released last month.

And he wants a significant increase in the $60 million in Commonwealth assistance pledged in the wake of Holden's closure.

JAY WEATHERILL: Tony Abbott's response to this matter has been indifferent and the seeming complacency with which he seems to wave away suggestions that the closure of Holden, the closure of Toyota and the consequences for the car manufacturing industry will be just dealt with in some fashion.